How do you read the multiplication table?

Senior Member

In my native language, we recite the multiplication table like this: "one one equals one, one two equals two, ... five six thirty, five seven thirty-five, ...". I'm just curious how to recite the multiplication table in English.

Senior Member

We all remember things well from when we were young and our brain was about empty. But as it fills up you need to push out some things to make room for the new stuff. The old stuff is there for good; so the new stuff pushes other new stuff out. So you end up forgetting things you read just an hour earlier.

Eleven times ten is one-ten
Eleven times eleven is one-twenty-one
Eleven times twelve is one-thirty-two
Twelve times twelve is one-forty-four

(They only teach to the ten times table nowadays in the USA, so this is added for the youngins who ain't had our advantages. )

Senior Member

I can't say I have any clear recollections of 60+ years ago. These days I count myself lucky to know who's in bed with me when I wake up. Luckily it's always the same fellow. As an adult I say "three fours are twelve". I would think that as small kids we said "Three times two makes six" because we called them " the 'times' tables", " We're doing the six times table now!" We called multiplication 'times'- "we're learning how to do 'times' sums". We chanted the tables every morning and got tested, both written and oral. These days they talk about numeracy, not 'sums', and they seem to use the proper terms.

Senior Member

I can't say I have any clear recollections of 60+ years ago. These days I count myself lucky to know who's in bed with me when I wake up. Luckily it's always the same fellow. As an adult I say "three fours are twelve". I would think that as small kids we said "Three times two makes six" because we called them " the 'times' tables", " We're doing the six times table now!" We called multiplication 'times'- "we're learning how to do 'times' sums". We chanted the tables every morning and got tested, both written and oral. These days they talk about numeracy, not 'sums', and they seem to use the proper terms.

I learnt my "times" tables too (I somehow missed the 9 times table and have difficulty to this day - perhaps I should attend remedial numeracy classes!).
I wonder if they still teach the "twelve times" table since the currency went decimal a little while ago. The 12 times table always seemed useful in the days of pounds, shillings and pence

Senior Member

I learnt my "times" tables too (I somehow missed the 9 times table and have difficulty to this day - perhaps I should attend remedial numeracy classes!).
I wonder if they still teach the "twelve times" table since the currency went decimal a little while ago. The 12 times table always seemed useful in the days of pounds, shillings and pence

It was useful for commerce too (and probably still is useful). Even today many items are sold by the dozen or the gross (in the USA). So it was useful to know that six dozen (or a half-gross) was equal to seventy-two; or that a quarter gross (three dozen) equals thirty-six, etc.

Senior Member

It depends on how juvenile you are. Once past primary school, the "times" version is likely to be more common, and should use "is", not "are", because the implied subject is "the result of <performing this operation> is ...".

The version without "times" should use "are", not "is", provided the first number isn't "one": One three is three. Two threes are six.

Senior Member

Strange, isn't it, the fashionable dogma in education? I've always found instant recall of multiplication a valuable skill. Very useful when working as a barman - these days bar staff seem incapable of mentally calculating the price of a few drinks. Having learnt the tables by rote as a young child didn't stunt my abilityy to go on to A-level maths at secondary school.

My daughter is a primary teacher, and tells me that multiplication tables are back in fashion. Her mental arithmetic is atrocious - the product of what was fashionable in the 1980s and 1990s.

Senior Member

To me "four threes" is four groups of three. You can add (3+3+3+3=12) or multiply (4x3=12) to get 12, but they aren't 12 until you add or multiply them. So the phrase "four threes are twelve" is not one I've heard.

Senior Member

That's Indianism. Indians use "into" to express multiplication/to mean multiplied by! Be careful while dealing with Indians. 99.9% Indian teachers don't know "into" is used to express division in standard English, not multiplication.